


Of Men and Metal

by TheRedGlass



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Crack, M/M, Natasha is a little shit, Piercings, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Sort of? - Freeform, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Steve puts up with a lot, Steve tries something new, Teasing, implied stucky - Freeform, silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 11:57:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3935929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRedGlass/pseuds/TheRedGlass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha teases Steve about piercings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Men and Metal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sariane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sariane/gifts).



> A sort of cracky oneshot based on a tumblr text post for a friend who's under the weather. Feel better soon! =)

“Come on, you can’t tell me you haven’t at least thought about it.”

Steve grimaces as he takes another sip of his drink, looking around the party for someone, anyone else, who’s close enough to provide him with an out. Natasha, as per usual, knows exactly how to tease him and push his buttons, annoying-little-sister style. “Nope,” he says.

She raises an eyebrow and tips back some of her own drink, in a way that’s both careless and delicate all at once. “I don’t believe you.”

Steve sighs, still not sure how they got on this topic or why she’s so keen to needle him about it. “Why would I want to get piercings?”

She grins. “To look totally badass. You know, update the Captain America image. It’s hip, all the kids are doing it these days.”

He rolls his eyes at that.

“Besides,” she continues. “It’s fun.”

He only shakes his head.

But Natasha isn’t known for dropping a topic once she’s settled into it and enjoying herself. “Hey, you got used to Lillian’s lip piercing enough to go out for coffee.”

“That’s her piercing, not mine.”

“And you never not for a split second wondered how it’d look on you?”

“No!” Steve starts to walk away, looking for more alcohol and some of those little cheese tart things they were passing around earlier.

Natasha follows closely, a knowing little smile playing around her lips. “Methinks the Captain doth protest too much.”

“Why are you so interested?” he asks, exasperated, filling a small plate with appetizers.

“It’s a new era Rogers, I just wanna help you adjust to the times. Everybody has piercings these days.”

“You don’t have any.”

Natasha’s smile is small, self-assured. “That you know of.”

Steve pauses and looks at her, squinting slightly at her face to see if he somehow missed something. Her ears are pierced, but just in the usual way.

She smirks. “Try lower.”

He drops his gaze without thinking and frowns, thinking back to when she showed him the scar from her bullet wound, trying to remember if there was any kind of ornamentation in her bellybutton.

Natasha follows his gaze and raises an eyebrow suggestively. “Lower,” she repeats.

Steve chokes on a crab cake.

She laughs out loud, giving a smug, self-satisfied grin that doesn’t tell him if she’s still doing this to get a rise out of him or if there was any truth to her insinuation. “Anyway...back to you.”

He’s cleared the crustacean out of his lungs and is looking back at her in a helpless, tired sort of way. “What about me?”

She’s relentless. “Nose? Lip? Tongue? Where would Captain America start?”

“Why are we having this conversation?”

“Because you’re still dodging the question.”

He sighs heavily.

“Come on. Think about it.”

So he does. To humor her. “Fine.” He gently pinches the top of one ear to show her. “There was a guy on the street the other day...I dunno, you’re right, it looked kinda cool.”

She looks thoughtful, maybe even a little impressed. “Hoop? Bar?”

He shrugs. “Hoop, I guess.”

“Nice.” There are a few moments of silence while she finishes her drink. Then: “I know a guy.”

“Excuse me?”

She’s so casual about it she might as well be giving him the name of her cat sitter. “He does good work, affordable, and not even associated with any criminal elements.”

“What?!”

She holds up a hand. “Scout’s honor.” Her face is so innocent as to be laughable.

“No no, back up - a guy for what, exactly?”

“Your piercing, duh.”

“What the hell Natasha?! That was hypothetical!”

“It could be more than hypothetical.”

“Why. Why do you do this to me?”

“I think it’d look badass.”

“You just like to mess with me.”

“Those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive.”

Steve rubs at his temples like he has a headache. Or maybe he does, it’s hard to tell at this point.

Natasha continues to look amused as she helps herself to an assortment of appetizers. “You know,” she adds far too casually. “Bucky was telling me about these really cool piercings the new IT tech has.”

Steve pretends at disinterest. “Oh?” he offers, trying to make it sound offhanded and not at all like he suddenly wants every last detail about these piercings that caught Bucky’s interest.

Natasha reads him like a book, and it doesn’t take any of her specialized skills. He might as well be wearing a neon sign with Bucky’s name on it. She skillfully hides a smile. “Yeah. Let’s see, what was it again...”

And that’s how less than a week later, Steve Rogers is nursing an intentional wound for a change and nearly causes a human pileup as he crosses the atrium at SHIELD headquarters and every last employee turns to stare as they try to take in Captain America and his new metal.


End file.
